About Me

I believed that stuff we were taught in high school back in the days before "Social Studies" supplanted history, geography and civics.
I really don't want to talk only about political things. I really want merely to be left alone to follow my own way.

Log

Monday, April 20, 2009

One hundred million dollars! President Obama announced today that he was asking his Cabinet to shave One hundred million dollars off the US Budget. Sounds like a lot, right? The budget is what, Seven Trillion so far this year in stimulus and operating expense? Make it simple - of just one Trillion, one hundred million is one one-hundredth of one percent. To put that in perspective if you went to the grocery store and spent one hundred dollars, you would save a penny at checkout. And that would just be against one trillion, not the whole budget. And it works out to about 33 cents for every man woman and child in the country*.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

This may seem contradictory or even hypocritical compared with my more basic position. I actually do see a place for a Fiat Currency. Not as is done now though - not a total fiat currency economy. The United States Note. This country functioned rather well for a long time with this Fiat Currency working alongside the metals backed currency of Silver and Gold Certificates. It functioned like an electrical capacitor absorbing the peaks and filling the temporary voids in the smooth flow of our national wealth. It had to be carefully controlled not to exceed the value of the true net income of the Government, so that it could be bought back with backed currency should the need arise. Contrast that to the present Federal Reserve Note which acts like a direct short circuit taking the wealth of the people direct to ground.The United States Note is a smaller non-interest-bearing equivalent of Treasury Notes, eliminating the middle man and interest overhead of the Federal Reserve Bank. Should its value be debased, vendors could discount the bill with only banks and the Government required to accept it at parity at all times. This would provide incentive for the Government not to debase the currency, and the banks not to profit from the arbitrage of dumping the bills onto the public at parity and buying them back at a discount; while retaining the ability to have the movement of currency when natural growth outstrips the production of metals. This would prevent the deflation that would come from insufficient wealth to cover the actual product of the nation which could be just as damaging as inflation.The backed currency would provide the stability while the US Note would provide a controlled elasticity.

Nope, our Government officials, elected and employed, no longer have the discipline or responsibility for that.

Note: picture intentionally altered to comply with anti-forgery regulations - though I don't know why with the Government issuing an infinite amount of unbacked currency.

It is not enough that the big financial houses and their accomplices in Congress have misappropriated the present and future wealth of this country to prolong the eventual collapse of the Ponzi scheme we call the Federal Reserve Note.

There is literally no end to the banker's desire to have it all. Even though we have been off the Silver Standard backing currency for 45 years last month, many banks still have listed assets of silver as their collateral backing their solvency. But, as with all deposits, there is no profit in merely having them sit around gathering dust. The banques majeur have leased out, sold short, or sold on futures those silver assets. The banks list their physically present silver concurrently with their receipt silver. This is why the price of tangible silver is at a premium over paper silver. At some point in the near future, the banks will have to exercise the fungibility of silver to cover the absence of the real metal. As long as they declare the spot price of silver to be low, this will be the rate at which they buy silver. Good luck on you buying at that rate also.

Sincere thanks to John at Stellaconcepts for permitting the use of his video.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

I almost didn't go. Not that I was apathetic or disinterested. I was tired. My day starts at five thirty am and as I predicted, I got home past my bed-time. And I skipped some of my responsibilities - getting the trash ready and down the hill for the morning's pickup and the dishwasher put away - and my 88 year-old mother had to make her own dinner. My thought was that most of these protesters were just like me.

It is hard to get us to protest. We have lives and responsibilities that we must forego in order to do this. I thought back to an earlier protest I witnessed at this same spot. One that the local network news stations made a bigger deal about than this 15,000 person* protest. There were 15 women matching on this very spot on the West lawn of the state capitol building. They were marching for welfare rights. There was 1/1000th the number of people, but WSB made a much bigger deal about it.

But more than that. Who is protesting? People that have the time to protest. People who view protests as a high point in their lives, not a chore. Well, the welfare mothers was obvious. The only labor in their entire lives was at the hospital. But look at the protestgroups and tell me where you CAN work looking like that? There is the book store and the hippie consignment store and ...?For the anti-capitalist, whether collectivist or anarchist, work and family do not interfere with protest time.

And while I am on this, why the affinity between anarchists and collectivists? Don't the anarchists realize that the collectivists will not have the tolerance of their antics that the too busy capitalists have allowed? Let me remind them of the words of George Bernard Shaw that I quoted the other day. They will only be kept as long as they are useful. Now they are useful in bringing down the old order. But then? Does inflated scrotum guy think that the New World Order really has a place for his old ass? His age alone would doom him, but his behavior? Is this what Lenin meant by useful idiots?

*I am more inclined to say 30,000 as it seems to me like the at least the mass of an arena concert crowd and I worked those for 15 years.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Yep, I did it. I went down to the State Capitol to stand in a crowd of strangers to show my displeasure with a government that see me only as a chattel of the state. I walked four long cold walks to stand around in a crowd. I stood in a couple of packed subway trains. It was the least I could do for those guys who put up with so much to secure this land and our wonderful Constitution.

I have no idea how many people were actually there at any one time. I only know that when I went there a little after eight the was a steady line of people going from the MARTA (subway) station to the Capitol ... and a steady line coming back from it. I could not get closer than two blocks to the Capitol stage. I tried from about four different places to get either closer or a better view. The speakers were clear, so I could hear and (mostly) understand the speeches even if I had no idea who was speaking. Mostly they said what I thought. The news derided the assembly and low-balled the count - but who didn't see that coming days before the event. Then again, that's half the reason I went. I wanted to make the media's lies harder to make. I had better things to do. I could even write this blog. But no, I had to stand up so they could see me even if they would deny I was there.

Once more the News media do not understand or even listen. I have heard it said that we are Republican shills. They miss the point.We have been angry with the Republicans too for not being fiscally and feduciarily responsible. We held our noses to vote for Republicans. They miss the point.I have heard we are racist, although the only color we are concerned about is green. The green of the fruits our own labor not the green of jet-setting ruling class elites like Al Gore. They miss the point.They think we are anti-American, but it is the media and the ruling political elite who have left America behind. They miss the point.

They miss the point, or do they deliberately distort it? Someone ask Susan Roesgen .

Once upon a time, TV news cast brought you the facts and let you make up your own mind; Now reporters insert themselves into the news. If you have not already seen this, you must. She is anything but a reporter. She considers herself the star of the piece. She is doing her utmost to convince us that this man's concern over the future financial life of his child is crazed idiocy. She asks him a question, interrupts and distracts his answer, and even gets belligerent in demeaning his point. Susan Roesgen is the singularly least objective reporter of any political bent I have ever seen. She makes Geraldo Rivera seem like an objective reporter.

Employees of the United States Government including all members of Congress are required to take the following oath before assuming elected or appointed office.

5 U.S.C. 3331:

“An individual, except the President, elected or appointed to an office of honor or profit in the civil service or uniformed services shall take the following oath: ‘I, AB, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.’”

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

1) On surface: It is not the top 1%. It is not even the top .1%. Those of whom you write are the top .00001%. The top 1 per cent are just like you and me. They just work harder and generally longer hours. They studied for more years, and yes, in some cases had blind luck or inherited. The people of whom you really write do not even appear on Forbes' list. A level above.

2) Get a name. There are 250 million anonymouses in this country alone. If you are to pontificate, people should be able to recognize that it is even the same person; and especially one whose opinion they respect. Be anonymous sure, but be recognizable - Publius, Adam Smith, John Galt, Luxomni have been taken, but there are others out there. Too much para-noia is para-lyzing.

3 And I can't stress this enough - EDIT. Long rambling, off topic rants may satisfy you, but the do not communicate. Small pieces. I have read some of your comment, but in two attempts, I can't get all the way through it without nodding off.

4) Get your own Blog. They are cheap or even free. So far not even a hint of censorship. But long, off-topic, multiday, parasitic rants threatening that they are not to be removed, do not convince, only annoy.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Neal Boortz often challenges people to define greed in order to debunk their views. That is one of the few places where I disagree with him. The word is definable and has a place in conversation.

Greed describes the excessive compulsion to acquire, often, but not exclusively, wealth; particularly that to which one is not entitled by virtue of his own industriousness. (synonym: covet)

It is often misused to describe those who work more, harder, or smarter than others. It best describes the Government which has no limit on its desires of the fruits of the labor of its citizens.**************************************************************

Why do Liberals consider it greed to desire to keep that which one had worked hard to earn,But not consider it greed to desire to take that which someone else has earned?

Red - Once the signature color of the Bolshevic communists, now a disparaging term for states that have more people who value their families and themselves more than they have people who value the Government and what it can take away from others to give to them.

Orange - The Irishmen that don't get drunk on March 17th.

Yellow - Descriptive of anti-War protestors.

Green - A word once descriptive of the thumb of someone who would grow plants, now describing those who would prevent that same person from raising edible plants or animals.

Blue - According to USA Today, the color of the states where more people believe they will get something for nothing from the Government than think they will pay the bill. Hence, singing the blues.

Indigo - Who knows what indigo is? No one ever uses the word other than describing the rainbow.

Violet - Color of the crown chakra - New Age talk lifted from the Hindu religion and used by people who would deny others the beliefs of Christianity.

Black - A color used by people to describe themselves that they would take offense at you using. Also, a group believed by Liberals to be incompetent at taking care of and advancing themselves through education or hard work. From which comes "equal opportunity" and other equality concepts that really enshrine and compel inequality.

Pink - Now the patented trademark and exclusive property of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Formerly a color of a crayon sold by the Binney and Smith company as "flesh" (now obsolete)

In the Old Testament books of Moses, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, the laws were laid down from God to Man. The Israelites found them somewhat difficult to follow. So God called Moses aside to the mountaintop and spoke. "Can't follow those? Here, take these two tablets and pray to me in the morning" and reduced it all to ten simple Commandments.Somewhat later, God sent his son Jesus down to Earth. Jesus reduced it all to one simple Golden rule. "Love thy neighbor as thy self" or whatever your individual religion's translation may be. In any event the meaning is the same: Treat others as you would be treated.

Now comes the United States Government, 70,000 pages of Federal Regulations and still adding. Thou shalt not steal defines the line where stealing is no longer stealing depending on what the meaning of is is.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

In the past I have recommended a few books. My all-time favorite Atlas Shrugged, Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism, Lester Thurow's The Zero-Sum Society, and Dr. Thomas Sowell's Applied Economics (2nd edition). I am adding another one. Part mystery, part story, part encyclopedic, G. Edward Griffin's The Creature From Jekyll Island (2nd edition)is now at the top of my recommended reading list. The following excerpt from TCFJI includes a quote and its footnote by Alan Greenspan from before the Creature co-opted him.

GOLD IS THE ENEMY OF THE WELFARE STATEIn more modem times, rulers of nations have become more sophisticated in the methods by which they debase the currency. Instead of clipping coins, it is done through the banking system.The consequences of that process were summarized in 1966 by Alan Greenspan who, a few years later, would become Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. Greenspan wrote:

The abandonment of the gold standard made it possible for the welfare statists to use the banking system as a means to an unlimited expansion of credit....The law of supply and demand is not to be conned. As the supply of money (of claims) increases relative to the supply of tangible assets in the economy, prices must eventually rise. Thus the earnings saved by the productive members of the society lose value in terms of goods. When the economy's books are finally balanced, one finds that this loss in value represents th# goods purchased by the government for welfare or other purposes....In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value. If there were, the government would have to make its holding illegal, as was done in the case of gold.... The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves.This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists' tirades against gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the "hidden" confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights.

Unfortunately, when Greenspan was appointed as Chairman of the Federal Reserve System, he became silent on the issue of gold. Once he was seated at the control panel which holds the levers of power, he served the statists well as they continued to confiscate the people's wealth through the hidden tax of inflation. Even the wisest of men can be corrupted by power and wealth.

So, Neal Boortz, I don't know if your faint praise is the same for this is the same as the mock faint praise you give Atlas Shrugged to get us to read it, or if you find this a little too "conspiracy theory" for your tastes (I don't), but I find it well documented and believable.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

One of my favorite quotes that never ceases to amaze me, just how prescient Ayn Rand was 45 years ago:

“Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?” said Dr. Ferris. “We want them broken. You’d better get it straight that it’s not a bunch of boy scouts you’re up against– then you’ll know that this is not the age for beautiful gestures. We’re after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you’d better get wise to it. There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens ? What’s there in that for anyone ? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that’s the system, Mr. Rearden, that’s the game, and once you understand it, you’ll be much easier to deal with.”

From ATLAS SHRUGGED (1957)

My coworkers and I daily check a website, Gwinnett Mugs, showing most of the previous day's catch into the justice system of Gwinnett County, Georgia. Several things have struck me about the daily parade: just how many shoplifters there are, how many women arrested for prostitution were so buttugly the only customer they ever could have hoped to catch was a policemen, and just how trivial a crime could get you into jail these days. Which brings me to the smiling man at the top of the page who was arrested for "outdoor storage". Coincidence? I better go clean my carport.

Under Socialism, you would not be allowed to be poor. You would be forcibly fed, clothed, lodged, taught and employed whether you like it or not. If it were discovered that you had not character and industry enough to be worth all the trouble, you might possibly be executed in a kindly manner; but whilst you were permitted to live, you would have to live well - George Bernard Shaw, Fabian Socialist.*

The difference between Communism and Socialism is that they both have the same destination, but the Communists are looking forward more to the (revolutionary) journey to get there - Luxomni.

Friday, April 10, 2009

The Somali pirates have kidnapped the captain of the Maersk Alabama and taken him off in a lifeboat. The launch ran out of fuel and is adrift in international waters in the Indian Ocean. The hostage captain, Richard Phillips jumped overboard to swim away towards the American destroyer U.S.S. Bainbridge. The destroyer did nothing. They stood by and let him be recaptured. The only thing to presume is that the destroyer is under orders not to molest the pirates. At what level would an order like that initiate?

The pirates did not shoot at their hostage. Perhaps they have no ammunition left? Let's wait for their reinforcements to arrive, so they will have a fair chance.

Another example of Jimmy Carter diplomacy? Welcome back to a replay of the 1980s. What is wrong with our leaders? I know, what's right with them? Don't they even have human feelings? What am I writing? I met Jimmy Carter (at his home in Plains to record a spot for Metromedia News)before he became President. My impression at the time which I have freely shared over the years was that the lights were on but no one was home. At the time it reminded me of drug addicts I knew. I recognize it now as the emotional absence similar to Asperger syndrome. I wonder if anyone else ever made that observation?* Is this true of Obama also?

*After writing that, I decided to Google Aspergers and Jimmy Carter - apparently there are no original thoughts, merely individually derived. Someone else wrote a blog that pointed me to a Wall Street Journal article that made the same observation.

Money used to come with a stern warning on it about counterfeiting, and a tremendous amount of filigree to make it difficult to copy. In this day and age, with Mr. Obama's predilection for issuing debt at every meal, it might be more economical to abolish the Secret Service's mission to control currency and let the counterfeiters run wild. We could save the money that the SS and the Bureau of Printing and Engraving cost. Even with all the copy machine and laser printers running full time, there would be less unbacked currency than the Government dumps into the economy now.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Sometimes I become so familiar with things I don't pay attention to them. Thanks to Glenn Beck for pointing this out to us on his radio show this morning. These were common in my childhood, but now are collectors items. The Fasces was a symbol of Mussolini's Fascist party in Italy for the same reason that the United States put it on the so many of our National symbols. And the origin of the symbol was from the same time period in many cases - the Progressive era. That same period of time under Woodrow Wilson that brought us the Federal Reserve Bank and the Internal Revenue Service.

Was it the same kind of mere coincidence that has the Hopi Indians and the India Indians using the swastika as a symbol? I ... don't ... think ... so. Once more, let me recommend Jonah Goldberg's book Liberal Fascism. For most of my life, the media and the powers-that-be have misdirected our view of Fascism to be ultra-right; but the truth is if you read contemporary materials of the time, you will find that Fascism was a Progressive Liberal movement. Not only that, but back then, they, the Progressive Movement, had not even learned to lie about their intentions. They proudly displayed them. The name Socialist was an accurate description for the National Socialist Party - the Nazis. More important, the difference is only partially Liberal and Conservative anyway. The big difference is individualist and collectivist. A Fascist is the ultimate collectivist. It always strikes me as strange to see these anarchists such as are now rioting in London protesting against capitalism, which is an individualist thing, in favor of the collectivist, socialist, fascist system which would deny them the very protests they enjoy so much. Their teachers will not teach them of Woodrow Wilson's political prisoners. Nixon didn't do that. Not even Lyndon Johnson did that. FDR did, but only for Japanese-Americans.

Now we have the most Fascist President of the United States since Woodrow Wilson, merging American business into the American Government. What other Fascist trappings will he adopt?